distributed generation

“What would our energy system look like if the move to a low-carbon society wasn’t left to governments and big energy companies but was instead led by civil society?” asks Dr. Stephen Hall, a Research Fellow in energy economics and policy at the University of Leeds, UK.[read more]

The electric power grid is based on an outdated hub-and-spoke architecture of centralized power production and distribution through transmission wires. This system is highly vulnerable to attacks at multiple points, and failures at critical nodes could create cascading failures and widespread power outages.[read more]

What happens when you really want solar but the obstacles seem too great? You may not have a suitable space. Or there may be a tree blocking your roof. Or you live in a condominium where you don’t have your own roof. This is where approaches for increasing customer access, such as shared solar, come in.[read more]

Regulators need new and more effective tools that will allow them to manage greater uncertainty and incentivize electricity distribution utilities to both accommodate distributed energy resources and take advantage of the capabilities these new technologies provide.[read more]

One of the main reasons that utilities fight against distributed generation like rooftop solar is that it erodes demand for their centrally generated electricity. Reduced demand is annoying for any business, but it’s especially bad for traditional monopoly utilities.[read more]

This article will take a deep and fundamental look at the potential of distributed storage and demand response to enhance the potential of distributed generation. Utility scale storage and demand response will also be assessed for comparative purposes.[read more]

Properly understood, and properly represented, wealthier and better informed consumers are using distributed solar and behind the meter storage to do what they have been trying to do for years with other technologies: use electricity more efficiently and reduce their energy costs.[read more]

Rather than view microgrids as new competitors to traditional electricity distribution utilities, perhaps these local networks of distributed generators, smart electricity loads, and energy storage devices should be seen as a new business opportunity.[read more]

Are utility business models facing long-term disruptive change? In recent years, declining solar costs have made this a question of when, not if. Thus, utilities in leading solar PV markets are attempting to buy enough time to retool their strategies.[read more]

Solar PV has become the flagship technology of the distributed energy philosophy. This article therefore takes a fundamental look at the potential of distributed solar relative to utility scale solar in order to assess the overall potential of distributed generation.[read more]

New York’s has provided details of how it plans to transform the state’s electric grid and energy markets, with proposals to turn the state’s utilities into distributed system platform providers, identify use cases for replacing grid upgrades with distributed generation, and create open markets for third-party competition.[read more]

Beyond the grid solar start-up Devergy believes the time has come for the next evolution in clean energy access markets: mini-grids. The mini-grid systems Devergy deploys are essentially many solar home systems connected to a battery back-up and charge controllers distributed to individual homes.[read more]

United States utilities see both threat and opportunity in the rise of customer-owned solar systems. Sure, all that new distributed generation could help them avoid building new power plants in the future. But it could also threaten utility business models.[read more]

In California, where rooftop solar PV, distributed energy storage and energy-engaged consumers are becoming an important part of the grid mix, state regulators and utilities are thinking about how these grid edge systems will work together for the benefit of the grid, the environment and ratepayers alike.[read more]